


One-On-One Exclusive

by Brenda



Series: Off The Record [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Celebrity, Alternate Universe - Journalism, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Bucky Barnes Feels, M/M, Romantic Fluff, Steve Rogers Feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-08
Updated: 2015-12-08
Packaged: 2018-05-05 17:52:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5384876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brenda/pseuds/Brenda
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>"Steve, come on, there's no way to tell this story without making myself part of it.  Without talking about this.  </i>Us<i>," Bucky emphasized, waving his hand between them. </i></p><p>
  <i>"Isn't that sort of the point?"</i>
</p><p>
  <i>"A good reporter never makes himself the focus of the story."</i>
</p><p><i>"Except, in this case, you sort of </i>are<i>."</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	One-On-One Exclusive

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a Tumblr Prompt from Superwoman0124: **Things You Said After You Kissed Me**

**The Man Behind The Shield: A One-On-One With Steve Rogers, The Most Elusive Star In Hollywood**  
By: James Barnes

 _Steve Rogers may be the biggest name in showbiz, with his movies worth over three billion dollars worldwide at the box office, but when he shows up to meet me for our interview at an exclusive bar in Los Angeles, he’s alone. There’s no entourage sitting in to steer the conversation, no assistant tapping on a phone, no agent waiting to whisk him to his next appointment. He's even more physically imposing in real life than he is on the screen – and has the sort of presence that wouldn't seem out of place in the Golden Age of Hollywood. There's an air of Cary Grant mixed with Jimmy Stewart about him, a sort of artless sophistication and even more artless humility and charm that's impossible to resist. It's certainly those qualities that have won him award after award and millions of devoted followers and fans. Those traits are also why legendary producer Tony Stark was so eager to cast Steve as Captain America in the film adaptation of the popular comic series. ("He's got this aura about him," Tony told me, when I spoke to him by phone a few days after this interview. "You just_ believe _everything he's saying. It's a pretty rare quality, especially in this town.")_

_That aura was very much in evidence when we met for drinks. But it wasn't until later that I found out the true reason I had been singled out for the honor of giving Steve Rogers his first ever interview. What follows is the remarkable story of one man's courage and commitment, and a friendship with a bond so strong that it’s survived almost impossible odds. A friendship with an ending so incredible even a town as cynical as Hollywood could appreciate it._

_**JB:** So, I guess we'll get this out of the way right off the bat, since I think it's the most important question people are going to have. Why do this now? And why this paper and why ask for me in particular?_

_**SR:** Really? You couldn't even throw me a softball for the first question?_

_**JB:** Hey, you knew what you were getting into. This was your idea._

_**SR:** I guess it was. As far as why now, well, it was just time. I was just...ready. To tell people my story, to get it out there, to talk about...well, us._

_**JB:** And by us, you mean...?_

_**SR:** Jeez, Buck, this is really how this is gonna be?_

_**JB:** You called me, remember. You knew I wasn't going to go easy on you._

_**SR:** Yeah, I did, and I'm glad of it. But yeah, us. Me and you. A reunion seventeen years in the making._

_**JB:** Let's talk about that for just a minute. You weren't born Steve Rogers._

_**SR:** No. Uh, as you know, I was born Steven Grant. In Brooklyn, New York. Rogers is my mother's maiden name. I took it as a stage name to honor her memory._

_**JB:** She'd be proud of you._

_**SR:** I like to think so. But she'd be prouder of you._

_**JB:** I doubt that. But since we've been hinting around it long enough, do you want to elaborate a little bit on our history? In your own words._

_**SR:** You know I'm terrible at this sort of thing. But yeah, I mean, this is part of the reason I wanted to do this. And why I wanted you. You and me, we grew up together. Best friends from kindergarten until right after my fourteenth birthday, when my mom died and I went to live with my aunt in D.C., then London._

_**JB:** Best friend I ever had, and I _ still _didn't recognize you either onscreen or when we first met._

_**SR:** Well, I changed a lot over the years. Seventeen years is a long time. _

_(Confession: The man now known to the world as Steve Rogers and I used to be best friends. We met the first day of kindergarten when I showed up late to class, and the only seat left was the one next to him. In some ways, I've always considered that moment to be the most fortuitous twist of fate in my life,_ the _single defining moment that colored everything that came after. Who knows if Steve – or Stevie, as I knew him back then – and I would have become as close if I'd sat somewhere else, or what would have happened in my life if we hadn't befriended each other. But safe to say neither of us would be where we are today without the other one. I owe my career to him in a very real way.)_

 

Bucky sat back from the laptop and sighed. Second attempt in the last hour, and this one was just as bad as the first. "This is fucking crap," he stated. 

Steve grabbed one of the other chairs and straddled it, sitting as close to Bucky as he possibly could. They were both still only wearing their boxers, and Bucky thought maybe half the reason he couldn’t concentrate on writing was because of all of the naked skin Steve had on display. He could see faint scratch marks along Steve's shoulders, and light bruises on Steve’s neck and collarbone – marks he'd put there last night and again this morning. The temptation to ignore his deadline and drag Steve back to bed was a strong one. (And not solely because it would be a great distraction from work, either.) 

"I can't _do_ this," he sighed. "I haven’t written anything this... _trite_...since college."

"Sure you can," Steve said, with an encouraging smile. "You're a brilliant journalist. This should be a piece of cake for you."

Bucky flushed at the praise – he didn't think he'd ever get tired of Steve looking at him with that blend of pride and affection on his face – but shook his head. "Steve, come on, there's no way to tell this story without making myself part of it. Without talking about this. _Us_ ," Bucky emphasized, waving his hand between them. 

"Isn't that sort of the point?"

"A good reporter never makes himself the focus of the story."

"Except, in this case, you sort of _are_."

"Except the point of the story is _you_ ," Bucky argued. "The infamously press shy Steve Rogers, the biggest movie star in the world, finally deigning to sit down with a member of the fourth estate. Finally telling his story in his own words. That's what people want to read about. Not me. I’m just the vessel here."

"Except I wouldn't even _be_ an actor or have taken the Captain America role or done anything at all really, if it wasn't for you," Steve replied, and _God_ , he was fucking beautiful. Beautiful and earnest and just radiating warmth and sincerity. Bucky would never get tired of looking at him.

"Steve," he started, with a helpless shrug, but Steve just smiled that lowered-lashed, charmingly coy smile of his that made Bucky weak at the knees.

" _Bucky_ ," Steve replied, and ducked his head to get at Bucky's lips. The kiss was sweet and tender and erased any thoughts Bucky might have ever had. Despite all of the lost time they'd been frantically making up for the last couple of days, it still didn't seem real. He couldn’t believe he got to have this now. He got to have this whenever he wanted. Steve, _his_ Stevie, back by his side, back in his arms, in his bed, in his life...

He let out a mournful sigh when Steve lifted his head. Those beautiful blue eyes were shining bright with an emotion Bucky didn't want to examine too closely, not just yet. Not until they’d _both_ had a chance to step back and breathe and think everything through. 

"That's cheating," he finally said.

"That's what you get for being so irresistible," Steve told him, with another slow, soft kiss. "I have faith in you, Buck. However you want to tell this, whatever you decide to do, I'm with you. You can focus on my body of work if you want, and the roles I've chosen. Or we can talk about what I want to do next career-wise and maybe my charity work. Or I could go on record talking about my favorite sports teams or what I do for hobbies, I have no idea. I've never given an interview, remember. I don't know how these things work."

"Neither do I," Bucky admitted. This would be so much easier if Steve was a dictator of a small nation or a warlord with a political agenda. "Maybe we should get Darcy out here, let her interview you instead."

"Or we get her out here and she could interview us _together_ ," Steve said, and brought Bucky's hand up to his lips for a quick kiss.

Bucky's heart all but melted even as his stomach plummeted to his toes. "You...fuck me, you're really serious right now."

"If there's one thing I do know better than you, it's what the entertainment industry is all about," Steve said, with a wide grin. "It's all about crafting a story people want to see. And this? The two of us reuniting after seventeen years and still just as in love as ever? Come on, even you have to admit that's one _helluva_ story."

"Yeah, but it's _our_ story, it doesn't belong to the world..." Bucky halted, his brain finally catching up with what Steve had just said. "In _love_?" he asked, his voice faint. "You're...? Oh my _God_ , Steve..."

A very charming – and very sexy – blush appeared on Steve's cheeks. "Yeah, sorry, it's way too soon to break out the L-word, I know –"

Bucky tugged at Steve's nape, teeth clashing as he brought Steve to him for a hard, hot kiss. All arguments about the story or bringing Darcy in or anything else fell by the wayside as pure, wild joy tore through him. Steve let out a small moan, then fisted his hands in Bucky's hair, shifted their heads to gentle the kiss, their tongues rubbing together all slick and slow until they were both short of breath.

"It's not too soon," Bucky murmured, when they both came up for air. He wanted to bottle this feeling up and share it with the world. So much for holding back until he had his feet under him or had some time to think. As far as his feelings for Steve were concerned, if it was a choice between caution and barreling ahead, there wasn't even a contest. "The way I see it, we're about seventeen years too late for this conversation."

Steve huffed out a laugh, but he was pretty much radiating happiness, so Bucky figured it was all good. "Things've changed since we were fourteen, Buck."

"This hasn't." Bucky slid his hand over Steve's chest to rest over his heart, thumb brushing across the small scar. "The way I feel about you hasn't changed since we were five."

"Now you’re just trolling me," Steve scoffed, with an affectionate eye roll. "Since we were five, really?"

"That first day at lunch when you shared your PB&J with me because my mom had packed salami," Bucky said, with a kiss to Steve’s nose. "Fell in love with you that moment, and I’ve never looked back."

" _Jesus_..." Steve blinked, a stunned look passing over his face. "Jesus, I never stopped loving you either, you know," he said, the words leaving him in a breathless rush. "I've missed you so fucking much."

"I know, Stevie. I've missed you too." And now that Bucky had Steve again, he was willing to do whatever it took to make sure that Steve knew that things would be different this time. They were adults now, no longer at the mercy of circumstance. They could make their own choices and decide their own future.

"Okay, so..." Steve glanced at the laptop, then Bucky. "How do you want to do this?"

In the end, the answer came a lot easier than Bucky'd thought it would. "I trust you," he said, and tapped at Steve's heart before sitting back. "If your gut says we make our reunion the focus, then we'll do that." 

"It does, but I also think you're right that you shouldn't have to tell it," Steve said, and caught Bucky’s hand to lace their fingers together. "Which is why we get your co-worker's help in crafting the story we want the world to know. She's good at her job, right?"

"Yeah, she's great." Darcy was one of the best, in fact. Had a knack for getting even the most recalcitrant celebrities to open up and reveal themselves in interesting ways, far beyond the canned soundbytes that were so prevalent in her field.

"Then I'll fly her out here."

Simple as that, Bucky thought. It was still so crazy to think about. Little Stevie Grant now commanded more money and influence than Bucky'd ever dreamed of in his life. But he was still the same shy, sweet, fiercely intelligent and amazing kid Bucky'd grown up with, still the same Steve under the muscled body and movie star persona. And that was the person Bucky was interested in getting to know again – that was the person Bucky’d never stopped loving, no matter the distance or years that had separated them.

" _Welllllll..._ " He drew the word out, then let his gaze roam all over every bit of Steve's body he could see. "Since we’re gonna wait for her to get here to do this, I guess I've got a little more free time today than I thought."

Steve's eyes darkened as he returned Bucky's look with one of his own. Lingered at Bucky's throat and hands and crotch. "Any ideas on how to spend it?" he asked, his voice husky, thick with lust.

"A few." Then Bucky stood and pulled Steve up with him, brought their bodies into full alignment. "Why don't you let me show you."

***

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to [Stephrc79](stephrc79.tumblr.com) for the beta!!!!
> 
> You can now find me on [Tumblr](brendaonao3.tumblr.com). :)


End file.
